Tie Ci quickly descended the stairs. Taking advantage of the fact that the servants below still didn’t know what had happened, she bypassed the side flower hall and left Danhuai Hall.

She had barely walked a few steps when someone caught up from behind. Looking back, she saw it was the catfish spirit.

Tie Ci smiled when she saw him, stopping to wait. Pang Duan came forward panting heavily, bowing deeply to the ground, but without addressing her by title, only saying: “This minister was discourteous earlier.”

Tie Ci laughed: “Aren’t you afraid I’m an impostor?”

Pang Duan pulled out a book from his sleeve, saying: “If what’s described in the book is completely accurate, then it’s genuine without doubt.”

The eighth volume of the Compassionate Heart Manual.

Tie Ci smiled slightly: “Unfortunately, your book is fake.”

Pang Duan looked completely confused, obviously not understanding this joke. Tie Ci didn’t want to elaborate, waving her hand dismissively: “No need for thanks. You didn’t advance through luck alone. After our conversation, I naturally know whether you’re worthy or not. You’re only acting temporarily for now. Later I’ll send an official document to notify the Qianzhou Provincial Administration Office, and also send someone back to the capital to convey this matter to the Ministry of Personnel and the Cabinet. Whether you can receive formal appointment still depends on yourself.”

Pang Duan naturally understood the meaning of these words, bowing deeply again: “This minister has received Your Highness’s gracious recognition, and will naturally serve unto death. The reason I caught up with Your Highness just now was precisely to offer my service.”

“Oh?”

“This minister has a distant cousin who serves as Protocol Officer in Prince Yannan’s mansion.” Pang Duan said softly. “I wonder if Your Highness has any use for him. If Your Highness needs it, I’ll immediately send up a token for Your Highness to take along. This brother received care from my father in his early years, and his character should be trustworthy.”

A light of appreciation flashed in Tie Ci’s eyes.

This fellow was truly sharp.

Although the court bigwigs all knew this trip was aimed at Yannan, she was still maintaining the pretense of a southern inspection tour, which was why she took the opportunity to drastically reorganize Qianzhou. It wasn’t surprising that a sixth-rank official in this remote city could guess her real purpose, but to be able to deduce from the current situation of Prince Yannan’s mansion’s direct descendants that she wanted to work through Prince Yannan’s mansion, and promptly provide a channel – that showed real brains.

Pang Duan respectfully handed over a pouch. Dan Shuang stepped forward to receive it, and Pang Duan said no more, bowing to take his leave.

Tie Ci called him back, asking: “Do you know how to conduct yourself in the near future?”

She had publicly announced the appointment, but the formal appointment wouldn’t come so quickly. During this period, the Tan clan would surely view Pang Duan as a thorn in their side. She wanted to see how Pang Duan would respond, to see if he would be stunned by this windfall from heaven.

Pang Duan smiled: “How can this minister conduct himself? Nothing has happened after all. As long as I don’t receive the appointment for one day, I remain the Pingyun Prefectural Judge for one day. All I can do is assist the chief official well.”

Tie Ci smiled.

He was a smart man.

“You said this Four Pleasures Garden was very suitable as an academy, but I hope after you take office, you remember what you said.” Tie Ci waved her hand and left Four Pleasures Garden.

She returned to the inn, had Chi Xue and Dan Shuang make arrangements, and directly hired several carriages. The inn quickly settled accounts and left the city.

She still needed to go to the nearby mountains to look for medicine and couldn’t be entangled by the Tan family in the city.

When returning to the inn, Tie Ci saw A’li Teng grooming herself by the window, with Chi Qingbo half-bending to paint her eyebrows. He held the eyebrow brush with focused concentration, the sunlight filtered thin by the pale green window gauze, hazily slanting across his high-bridged nose, while the lip line below his nose was gentle and soft.

A’li Teng’s eyes therefore rippled with soft light. Suddenly she gently leaned forward and kissed his lips.

Chi Qingbo then smiled, quickly moving the eyebrow brush away. The two intimately nuzzled briefly before Chi Qingbo laughed: “Look at you being mischievous. Now it’s good – I’ve painted you into a she-demon.”

A’li Teng smiled with squinted eyes: “Then you won’t want me anymore?”

“How could that be? Even if you were a she-demon, you’d be the most beautiful she-demon.”

A’li Teng then laughed and fell into his embrace.

Dan Shuang stood in the courtyard watching, pursing her lips and saying: “Boring.”

Chi Xue smiled gently: “When spouses are in love, even these boring repetitive words become sources of endless joy.”

Dan Shuang snorted coldly: “You speak as if you understand very well.”

Chi Xue said softly: “Now perhaps I don’t understand as well as you do.”

Dan Shuang glared, flicked her sleeve and walked away. Tie Ci suppressed her laughter, watching the handsome man and beautiful woman by the window, sighing: “These two really have good feelings for each other.”

Chi Xue nodded with deep agreement.

True genuine feelings couldn’t be faked.

Hearing they were leaving the city to enter the mountains searching for herbs, everyone came out efficiently. Several large carriages quickly left the city. Outside the city, Tie Ci found a shop with a red banner hanging, and walked in with practiced familiarity.

Everyone followed in confusion. Although the shop was located outside the city, it was on a main road for merchant traffic, with quite a few other shops around, forming a small marketplace. This shop was just one storefront, not particularly large, but occupied the central position of the entire marketplace. However, compared to other shops, business seemed quite light, with only occasionally very particular carriages stopping, from which one or two gorgeously dressed men and women would descend and enter the shop.

Everyone followed into the shop. The storefront was called Gui Qizhai (Precious Wonder Studio). The name was quite ambitious, but being located outside a prefecture city in this southwestern region, one would expect it to be like the ordinary shops here, selling clothing, mountain goods, fabrics, rouge and powder, goods from north and south. Only Feng Huan exclaimed in surprise: “There’s actually a Gui Qizhai in this remote wilderness too?”

Two clean and fresh young assistants stood by the door. Seeing everyone approach, they smiled and lifted the curtain, bowing in unison. Respectful without being servile, which was quite refreshing.

The storefront appeared small, but inside it was quite spacious. Upon entering and looking up, they were startled to see themselves approaching head-on, then looking more carefully, realized it was a full-length glass mirror mounted on the opposite wall. This mirror didn’t look much like ordinary imported goods – the frame lacked those Western carvings and was also different from the currently popular black lacquer mother-of-pearl frames, being exceptionally simple. Yet the mirror surface was extremely bright and clear, showing even skin pores, making people accustomed to dim and indistinct bronze mirrors feel as if they were streaking naked, quite uncomfortable.

Glass mirrors existed nowadays, and wealthy households often used them, but even a small piece was quite expensive. The lavishness of this entire large mirror, appearing in such an apparently ordinary shop, couldn’t help but amaze and puzzle people.

But immediately everyone’s attention was drawn to the surroundings. The shop’s layout was spacious, unlike typical shops with counters facing the entrance. Rows of counters lined the four walls, leaving the middle as an open space. The floor was paved with brilliantly colored tiles, forming a giant passion flower pattern. The counters were also different from conventional black lacquer wooden counters – they had fine steel frames with precious glass panels, with copper brackets at the four corners holding oil lamps. The counters thus blazed with light, making the goods inside appear to sparkle brilliantly, each looking priceless.

Many shelves hung on the walls, with silks and brocades cascading like waterfalls. From a distance it looked like an entire wall of splendid colorful banners. A’li Teng was entranced, unconsciously walking forward several steps, but unexpectedly bumped into someone. She hurriedly apologized, but the person neither spoke nor moved, only swayed as if about to fall. A’li Teng looked up and gasped in shock. Chi Qingbo, who was constantly watching her, quickly rushed over, patting her back gently: “Don’t be afraid, it’s a dummy, just a dummy.”

Only then did A’li Teng see clearly that it was indeed a mannequin. It wasn’t made very elaborately, not even having hair, but being caught off guard without expecting it, she was easily startled. However, this mannequin was particularly meticulous in certain details – with an exquisite figure, tall and slender, with a prominent chest. A’li Teng looked again and her face reddened.

Feng Huan proudly walked over, saying: “This is a mannequin the shop uses for displaying clothes.” Sure enough, an assistant came over, smiling apologetically, offering A’li Teng delicate snacks while shouldering the mannequin to one side.

Nearby were several mannequins of different skin colors, all made elaborately and posed in various positions. When someone inquired about fabric, the assistant would use a pole to take down the fabric of interest and hang it on the mannequin for customers to see the effect when worn.

Indeed, this matching method made it very easy for customers to make decisions, and transactions were completed extremely quickly.

The assistants in the shop all spoke in low voices, deep and gentle, causing people to unconsciously lower their voices as well, consciously maintaining the shop’s refined and exquisite atmosphere.

“…This telescope you’re looking at is an imported item just brought by ocean-going ships. Look, the heart-shaped pattern on the back of that bird on the roof of the restaurant across the way…”

“This pearl flower cannot be compared to those gold and jade items. Where can’t you find gold and jade? The material we use, however, cannot be found anywhere in Great Qian. Not only does its luster not pale compared to gold and jade, but it lacks the problems of dimming, fading, and discoloration that gold and jade have – it never fades… one hundred taels of silver and you absolutely won’t lose out.”

“One can tell at a glance that you’re someone who enjoys and understands good wine. Those who don’t know how to drink can’t taste the goodness of this grape wine – that slightly sour taste, the light floral fragrance that returns after entering the mouth, very refined and delicate…”

“Ah, sorry, this item isn’t for sale. This isn’t first-floor merchandise, it’s from the second floor – the assistant mistakenly brought it to the first floor. Sorry, sorry, I’ll give you a ten percent discount on this nightgown, but this item really can’t be sold… Ah, you ask how second-floor goods can be sold? Ah, that’s not easy to say, please don’t ask. How about this – look at this one, this is also very good, I’ll give you a twenty percent discount…”

A’li Teng looked down at what was in her palm. It was a round ball-shaped pastry wrapped in beautiful colored paper, emitting a strange sweet fragrance. When opened, it was brown colored with an intense intoxicating aroma. Feng Huan poked his head over and exclaimed: “Wow, this Gui Qizhai also has cocoa balls? And they just gave it to you? They never give them to me, won’t even let me buy them – this is really treating people differently!”

Tie Ci had already walked to the innermost counter, calling from afar: “This place doesn’t judge people, it judges faces. Who told you to be ugly.”

Feng Huan: “…That’s going too far!”

A’li Teng gently took a small bite, smiling: “Bitter-sweet, bitter-sweet.” She broke off half and stood on tiptoe, wanting to put it in Chi Qingbo’s mouth. Chi Qingbo quickly bent slightly to receive it. Feng Huan watched sourly, rolled his eyes and walked away, muttering: “How precious! In the capital I’ve eaten so much I’m sick of it!”

Dan Shuang coldly pursed her lips.

Keep bragging.

Master’s shops had various small snacks, all strange and wonderful, things not available on the market – chocolate, potato chips, popcorn, walnuts, sunflower seeds, hawthorn balls, fruit leather, cream puffs, biscuits, preserved plums… Chocolate was among the most popular snacks. These snacks were also important weapons for attracting customers. When encountering poor children, they might even give them away free, but for someone like Feng Huan who obviously was a spoiled rich kid, he would definitely have to pay big money, queue up, and accept limited quantities.

Gui Qizhai was one type of shop under Master’s name, mainly selling various sundries. As for how many such sundry shops there actually were, Dan Shuang felt there were probably more and more, seeing that even outside Pingyun Prefecture city there was one.

Never mind Dan Shuang – even Tie Ci couldn’t figure out exactly how many shops and estates Master owned, because she conducted business discreetly, using different people to buy shops and make contracts with the government.

Except for Deputy General Zhu and Xiao Xueya who remained in the carriage, everyone else couldn’t help crowding around the counters to look. Chi Qingbo was seriously asking about the price of a distinctive hairpin while A’li Teng blushed furiously, desperately tugging at his sleeve. Dan Shuang was playing with a music box with a small figure dancing with a sword, her eyes constantly glancing sideways at the couple while one hand clutched her money pouch.

Tie Ci was at the corner counter near the stairs, tapping the table surface. The assistant flashed her a well-trained eight-tooth smile. Tie Ci rolled her eyes and dropped a thin white jade piece from her sleeve, carved with several strange foreign characters. Seeing this, the assistant’s mechanical eight-tooth smile immediately transformed into a genuine ten-tooth smile: “Please go upstairs!”

Tie Ci put away the jade token and walked upstairs leisurely. The assistant smiled behind her: “You came at a good time today – there’s a surprise!”

What surprise? Tie Ci wondered. Could it be Murong Yi upstairs naked dancing a grass skirt dance?

She went upstairs, and curious Feng Huan immediately wanted to follow. The capital’s Gui Qizhai also had a second floor, said to be for entertaining distinguished guests, but he had never succeeded in going up. He and a group of capital dandies were very indignant – just them, just him, son of Marquis Duanyang, and Marquis Duanyang was a representative of old aristocratic families, plus Chang Qianmo and Li Yuncheng, all from Grand Academician families. If such status wasn’t considered distinguished, what could be considered distinguished?

Later he heard you needed to spend ten thousand taels of gold at Gui Qizhai or one hundred taels of gold at once to qualify for going upstairs. From then on, Feng Huan gave up. Although marquis households were wealthy and noble, they wouldn’t spend ten thousand taels of gold for him to squander.

However, hatefully, this time he was still blocked. The assistant still used the same annoying tone as Gui Qizhai assistants in the capital, respectfully asking him something he couldn’t understand: “Please show your Gui Qizhai VIP card.”

“VIP card… what the hell is that!” Feng Huan was furious, pointing at Tie Ci’s retreating figure. “Don’t give me random nonsense – you obviously let her upstairs because of her status. Since you also only recognize clothes not people, then I can also…”

Before he finished speaking, he saw an old beggar carrying a tattered bag, leaning on a dirty walking stick, clattering into the shop. As usual, he received unanimous bows and “welcome” greetings from the assistants. The old beggar took this treatment for granted, even loudly clearing his throat and spitting on the passion flower floor tiles with a “ptui.”

Feng Huan didn’t even glance at him – this old beggar would definitely be driven out by the assistants anyway. He leaned on the counter still arguing with the assistant: “…I’ll also pay you money, let me go up and take a look…”

Behind him, someone shuffled past, accompanied by respectful “This way please.”

Feng Huan turned around and stared dumbfounded as an assistant was leading the old beggar upstairs.

“This… this…” He pointed at the old beggar, stammering.

The old beggar glanced at him contemptuously, pulled a dirty black jade piece from his sleeve, and slapped it on his face.

The assistant smiled gently in explanation: “Dear customer, our second floor really only serves VIP customers…”